Bottom Up News and Research

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Viewpoints: Sebelius, Harkin, Wyden, King, Altman, Butler weigh in on health reform law

Early signs show that, after years of decline, the number of small businesses offering coverage to employees is increasing. Perhaps less widely recognized, but no less significant, has been the way the law is demanding transparency and accountability from the insurance industry to bring down premiums.

14 Mar 2011

NIDA awards Scripps Research, University of Pennsylvania $8.2M grant to develop tobacco addiction treatment

The Scripps Research Institute and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have been awarded approximately $8.2 million over five years to develop novel compounds that could eventually become drug candidates for the treatment of tobacco addiction. Of the funds awarded, $5.7 million will go to Scripps Research, and $2.5 million to the University of Pennsylvania.

12 Jan 2011

Financial Times contrasts 'bottom up' and 'top down' approaches to developing country drugs

The Financial Times contrasts the model of drug development for developing countries being used by non-profit groups like the Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP), which recently rolled out the MenAfriVac, to that of some pharmaceutical companies.

8 Dec 2010

Virally structured nano-electrodes boost energy capacity ten-fold

Viruses have a bad rep—and rightly so. The ability of a virus to quickly and precisely replicate itself makes it a destructive scourge to animals and plants alike. Now an interdisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Maryland's A. James Clark School of Engineering and College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, brought together by Professor Reza Ghodssi, is turning the tables, harnessing and exploiting the "self-renewing" and "self-assembling" properties of viruses for a higher purpose: to build a new generation of small, powerful and highly efficient batteries and fuel cells.

7 Dec 2010

Simple strategies to cope with holiday stress

Dr. Richard Blonna, author, life coach, and stress management expert, offers five simple strategies for managing holiday stress. His approach to managing the worry and anxiety associated with holiday stress is adapted from his new book, Stress Less, Live More; How Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Can Help You Live a Busy Yet Balanced Life.

20 Nov 2010

Financial Times examines U.S. foreign aid reform

The Obama "administration's bold drive to improve the U.S.'s notoriously bureaucratic and dysfunctional foreign aid programme is setting out with highly uncertain chances of success," the Financial Times writes. "Officials acknowledge inadequacies in the traditional U.S. approach. The U.S. programme involves overlapping bureaucracies ... [and] frequently 'ties' U.S. aid to the purchase of American food and other goods and consultancy services," according to the article.

21 Sep 2010

Implementation of electronic health records in England likely to be a long, complex and iterative process

Interim results from the first comprehensive evaluation of the implementation of electronic health records in secondary care in England have found delays and frustration with the system, according to research published on bmj.com today.

3 Sep 2010

Scientists develop revolutionary approach for reconstructing intricate bone tissue

Every year nearly 6.2 million bone fractures occur in the United States as a result of trauma and disease. Current standards for bone repair can lead to rapid bone fusion but with limited mechanical strength often due to the lack of cortical bone tissue which is difficult to harvest without pain and severe morbidity. Funded by the National Science Foundation, Dr. Hongjun Wang, a professor in the Department of Chemistry, Chemical Biology and Biomedical Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology and his collaborators have developed a revolutionary "bottom-up" approach for reconstructing intricate bone tissue with the potential to form hierarchical cortical bone.

5 Aug 2010

Michelangelo appears to have hidden image of brainstem, spinal cord in Sistine Chapel's ceiling: Study

Michelangelo, the 16th century master painter and accomplished anatomist, appears to have hidden an image of the brainstem and spinal cord in a depiction of God in the Sistine Chapel's ceiling, a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers reports. These findings by a neurosurgeon and a medical illustrator, published in the May Neurosurgery, may explain long controversial and unusual features of one of the frescoes' figures.

29 Jul 2010

GHX cuts over $155.6M in healthcare costs during first-quarter

GHX and its participating suppliers and providers are on target to cut a total of $5 billion in healthcare costs in the next 5 years by improving supply chain efficiencies, visibility and trading partner collaboration. GHX provides technology and services to automate and optimize business processes throughout the healthcare supply chain, and has achieved its first-quarter goal of cutting more than $155.6 million in healthcare costs.

23 Jun 2010

Researchers use computer-based model to study human visual intelligence

Scientists have just come several steps closer to understanding change blindness - the well studied failure of humans to detect seemingly obvious changes to scenes around them - with new research that used a computer-based model to predict what types of changes people are more likely to notice.

17 Jun 2010

NSF awards Florida State University $17.5M grant to build 21-tesla magnet system for large molecule analyses

The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at Florida State University is planning to build a state-of-the-art magnet system that will transform the study of complex environmental and biological samples. A better understanding of fossil and biological fuels, for example, could lead to applications for reducing carbon emissions and the development of new, sustainable fuels.

16 Jun 2010

Rensselaer professor selected to receive NSF CAREER Award

David T. Corr, assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has won a Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation.

14 May 2010

Peptides: A new clue on the origins of life

Emory University scientists have discovered that simple peptides can organize into bi-layer membranes. The finding suggests a "missing link" between the pre-biotic Earth's chemical inventory and the organizational scaffolding essential to life.

7 May 2010

Particle Sciences extends collaboration with Microfluidics to implement MRT system

Particle Sciences and Microfluidics extended their collaboration with the placement of the newly-announced Microfluidics Reaction Technology system at Particle Sciences.

5 May 2010

Researchers invent zinc-stapled insulin to reduce insulin-related cancer risk

For millions of Americans with Type-2 diabetes and inject insulin to control diabetes (with onset typically in adulthood) the associated risk of cancer is of increasing concern. Studies have demonstrated that obesity and excess insulin - whether naturally produced by the body or injected in synthetic form - are associated with an increased incidence of some common cancers.

13 Apr 2010

Tea Party Democratic candidate Warren Mosler releases hybrid health care proposal

Warren Mosler, the Tea Party Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, released his hybrid health care proposal that gives Americans a powerful market based incentive to use only what they need, while slashing the true cost of health care for the U.S. economy.

3 Apr 2010

Opinions: Chile's preparedness; Evangelical Christians; 'Locavorism'

The earthquake in Chile "was the fifth biggest ever measured, and several hundred times larger than the one that killed more than 220,000 in Haiti," according to a Wall Street Journal editorial. The editorial highlights Chile's preparation for earthquakes, including stricter building codes. "But such preparation is also the luxury of a prosperous country, in contrast to destitute and ill-governed Haiti.

3 Mar 2010

Calcium waves could be relevant for understanding the origin of Alzheimer's disease

New insights on what causes Alzheimer's disease could arise from a recent discovery made by bioengineers from the University of California, San Diego. The finding concerns the infamous amyloid beta peptides (Aβ)-fragments of which form plaques thought to play a role in Alzheimer's disease.

15 Feb 2010

DFG approves establishment of new CRCs; research topics range from modern prostheses to political reforms to marine bacteria

The DFG has approved the establishment of 17 new Collaborative Research Centres as of 1 January 2010. This decision was made recently by the relevant Grants Committee in Bonn.

1 Dec 2009